Essence of Magic (Ruby Morgan Book 1)

by LJ Rivers

  “Go, Princess. We’ll meet again.”

  Then it—he—dissolved like bubbles of black smoke.

  I stood for a moment, trying to grasp what had happened, when I heard the engine of a car up the street. The headlights hadn’t reached Brendan’s body yet, but it would only be seconds. I ran the few yards back to him and knelt beside his slumped body.

  Heal his wound.

  Even as scary as the scene was, I still enjoyed the feeling inside when I summoned my healing powers. It was always my greatest joy, ever since I was three and healed my first goldfish. The warmth inside my body when I summoned the magic was like nothing else, not even the firepower I had to learn more about. My hand touched Brendan’s head again, and I let the magic flow through the warm, wet blood and into the wound.

  “What happened? Is he ok?”

  A young couple came out of the restaurant just as I stopped the healing.

  “I—he fell. I think he tripped on that sign,” I said, nodding towards the broken frame by the wall.

  “Hnggg,” said Brendan. “What the—”

  “Shh,” I said. “You hit your head. Lie still for a minute, ok?”

  He looked up at me, puzzled. “Ruby?”

  I smiled back at him. “Oh? Did you hit it so hard you forgot about Ruby Ruby?”

  Brendan rubbed the back of his head with his hand and started to sit. “Is that blood?” Shock filled his eyes as he noticed the cut on my neck. “You’re hurt! What the hell happened?”

  I laughed, happy to escape having to explain why he was bleeding without any wounds. “I’m sorry, but I think I might have rubbed my blood into your hair. It must have been a splinter from the sign you tripped on or something. It’s no biggie.”

  He tilted his head and squinted ever so slightly, as if he knew I wasn’t telling the truth.

  I tried not to show him that I had picked up on his scepticism. It was fair, and a natural reaction on his part, after all. I had lied. But that was what the shadow had told me to do. He must not know, it had said. And somewhere inside me I knew the right thing was to follow its advice.

  “The answer is yes,” I said.

  “Huh?” Brendan scrambled to his feet.

  I looked at the young couple, who still stood staring at us. The girl pulled the boy’s arm, whispering that they should leave. When they were gone, I turned back to the confused Brendan standing in front of me.

  “Yes, I hope there is a second date.” I winked at him. “If you dare to take your chances, that is.”

  In my head, I was frantically trying to understand what had happened to the man who had tried to—well, what was he trying to do, exactly? Kidnap me?

  Chapter Fifteen

  The living room was clouded with smoke, wafting from the kitchen on the other side of the room. The smell of bacon and eggs lay heavy in the air. Charlie was frying the bacon to a crisp while wiggling her hips to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ echoing off the walls. I wasn’t complaining about her making us all breakfast, though. Neither was Jen or Duncan. And Charlie sure had some moves.

  “Dig in,” she chirped as she placed the plates on the table.

  My mouth watered as I stared at the meal: sausages, bacon, eggs, mash, tomatoes—and no beans, as per my request. I filled my fork and shoved the food into my mouth, then nearly choked on it as a loud banging issued from outside our door.

  “Sod it all,” I coughed.

  Jen stood. “I’ll get it.”

  She disappeared into the hallway and opened the door, its hinges creaking slightly. A male voice followed, though I couldn’t decipher the words, and then Jen popped her head round the doorway.

  “You need to come here,” she said.

  We all left our delicious food behind and went to the front door. I staggered as my eyes fell on the policemen in the doorway. One was almost as wide at the waist as he was tall, the other looked more like a young Jason Statham. Broad shoulders and toned muscles were visible even through his blue shirt.

  “Ladies,” the plump policeman offered, greeting Charlie and me. “And you are Duncan Cole, I presume?” He raised his eyes, his head turned down to a notebook in his hands.

  “None other,” Dunc said, fidgeting with his sleeves. The policemen put him on edge, which was understandable considering the circumstances.

  “We’re here about the disappearance of one Ilyana Makarova,” the Statham look-alike said sternly. “I’m Police Constable Paddock. This is my colleague, PC Fernsby.”

  “Iliyana?” I asked.

  “Olivia’s real name,” Dunc muttered under his breath.

  “Oh,” I said, puzzled.

  “May we come inside?” Fernsby asked while Paddock was already two steps beyond the threshold.

  We escorted them into the living room, where Charlie cleared the table with impressive speed. I could almost hear my stomach grumble at the sight of the food being carried off.

  No one sat down, however. Apart from Jen, who casually pulled out a chair, straddling it the wrong way around before leaning her arms on the back.

  “Which one of you is Ruby Morgan?” Fernsby asked as he brought up a pen.

  I raised a hand in the air.

  “We understand you were the last person to see Miss Makarova, is that correct?” Fernsby shifted his gaze to the chairs and took a seat next to Jen, placing his notebook on the table.

  “As far as I know,” I replied.

  Paddock eyed me with what I could only describe as contempt. “And you neglected to tell anyone about it for three days?”

  I sighed. The whole truth wasn’t an option, but I figured I should try to stay as close to the truth as I could.

  “I know. I’m sorry about that.”

  “Were you aware that her papers were forged? She wasn’t here legally.”

  I shook my head in disbelief and shot Duncan a cold stare. It made a lot more sense now.

  “Miss Morgan, we need you to walk us through everything you saw or heard that night,” Paddock said. “And make sure you tell us everything.”

  My thoughts scrambled as I tried to recall the night of Olivia’s—Iliyana’s—disappearance, starting with our arrival at Raven Court. I walked the officers through the events, excluding bits and pieces along with my narrative.

  “Charlie had a falling out with this girl and I went to check on her,” I said. “That’s when I saw Liv, or whatever her name is, sitting by the wall outside. She was barely awake.”

  “Was there MagX at the party?” Paddock asked, leaving me tongue-tied.

  What was I supposed to say?

  Charlie put a reassuring hand on my back, smiling broadly at the officers. “Not that any of us knows,” she said, turning her Plymouth-Brazilian charm on. “That shit is illegal. I don’t know anyone who would be foolish enough to bring panels or anything like that to a public place.”

  The girl sure knew how to lie through her teeth.

  “But you do know of people using it?” Paddock shot Duncan a look.

  None of us said anything to that, and I decided to try to move the conversation back to the real issue.

  “Liv—sorry, Ilyana, was just drunk,” I said. “I did go back to check on her, but by the time I got there she was gone.”

  “Anything else you would like to share about that night?” Fernsby asked, flipping over a page in his notebook.

  “Actually,” Jen said. She shrugged at me. “We did find something. Didn’t think much of it, and I probably shouldn’t have taken it, but it made me curious.” She stood and walked out.

  The silence was suffocating as we all waited for her to return. Fernsby had a gentle expression on his face but Paddock couldn’t look more like a pillar of ice if he tried.

  “Here,” Jen said as she walked back in and placed the syringe she had found on the table next to Fernsby’s notebook.

  Paddock stepped around the table, placing his palms next to the syringe, a deep frown shading his eyes. And then—was that a brief smile? Why?

/>   “I should throw you in the nick for this.” He wiped the smile off and gritted his teeth instead.

  There was a split personality if I ever saw one. What was up with him?

  “What were you thinking, bringing this home with you? Bloody hell.” Paddoc’s brows knitted together.

  “Now, now,” Fernsby said, retrieving a plastic bag from his pocket.

  He placed his hand inside the bag and grabbed the syringe before he turned the bag in on itself and zipped it closed.

  “Thank you,” he said to Jen. “We will make sure to check this out. We don’t have a lot of leads and this could certainly help, assuming it has anything at all to do with Miss Makarova.”

  Paddock was seething, his reaction far too strong for what had occurred. I had the sudden urge to touch him, to try to read his thoughts. I wasn’t sure why but there was something about him that bothered me, besides his cold exterior. The officers were killing it with the good cop/bad cop routine.

  “Now,” Fernsby said as he pocketed the evidence bag with the syringe. “Mr Cole. Would you be so kind as to sit?”

  Duncan was shaking, his motions jittery. It had probably been a while since his last fix. I liked Dunc, despite his addiction, and it pained me to see what magical blood had done to him. He sat, almost missing the seat of the chair, easing his way into it.

  Paddock straightened, and a weird quirky motion tugged at his lips again. “How long have you known Miss Makarova?”

  Duncan’s eyes were fixed on his hands, knitted together on the table. “About a year, I think.”

  “She’s been staying with you?”

  “For a while, yeah.”

  “And what is the nature of your relationship?”

  Duncan licked his lips, shifting his weight in the chair. “We’re friends.”

  “You sure about that? No romantic relationship or unrequited feelings, perhaps? No common drug abuse or anything?”

  What was Paddock getting at? This didn’t bode well for Duncan at all. I felt sorry for him. At the same time, however, the questions weren’t completely out of line.

  “No, nothing like that,” Duncan stuttered.

  “You were the last person to be seen with her, aside from Miss Morgan. Why did you separate?”

  Duncan pulled his sleeves over his hands. “I was going to meet someone.”

  “Another so-called friend?” Paddock hissed.

  “You could say that. Liv didn’t want to come, so I told her I’d see her after.”

  “And did you?”

  “No, she was gone by the time I got back.”

  Paddock leaned forwards, bumping his fists down on the table to stare at Duncan. “Are you absolutely sure you didn’t see her again that night?”

  Duncan raised his gaze, steadier than he had been since the officers showed up. “Yes!”

  “And if, say, you were high, would you still be certain you didn’t see her?”

  Duncan’s gaze shifted again. “I—no, I—she’s my friend. I spent all night looking for her, and I’ve been looking for her ever since.”

  “And yet, you neglected to report her missing.”

  The officers asked a bunch of other questions and kept coming back to Duncan, pressuring him about his MagX addiction and asking him several times if he hadn’t seen Ilyana again. His answer was always the same, and yet they didn’t appear to be satisfied with his response. Especially not Paddock.

  After what felt like all morning had gone by, Fernsby put his notebook in his shirt pocket.

  “That would be all for now, I should think. Right, PC Paddock?”

  Paddock only grunted in response as Fernsby rose from the chair.

  “I think you should know that another girl is missing,” Fernsby said. “Her name is Corinne Jacobs, and she’s listed as a possible Magical. We suspect she’s some kind of Elementalist. We’re not sure if her magic has anything to do with her disappearance, or if it’s connected with Miss Makarova being gone, but I urge you all to be extra vigilant. Do not go anywhere alone. We have advised the headmaster of the university to impose a curfew as well, and you are all to stay inside after nine pm until this matter has been resolved.”

  Curfew? And a Mag was missing? My chest tightened, and I all but gasped for air. How was this connected? Maybe Fernsby was right, and there was no connection, but still, maybe there was. The way they had pressed on about MagX wasn’t helping my nerves either. I couldn’t very well close my eyes to the obvious. If a Magical was involved, MagX might have something to do with it. And even though Duncan was adamant about Olivia’s preference for alcohol, perhaps he was lying about that too?

  “We thank you for your time,” Fernsby said.

  Paddock stomped out into the hallway before turning back to us.

  “And don’t go running off,” he said. “Especially not you, Mr Cole. We’ll be back if and when we need to talk to you again.”

  The officers left and I let out a breath, clutching my chest.

  Charlie was quick on her feet, however. She grabbed the plates of now-cold breakfast and put them back on the table. “Not as good anymore, but I think we could all use the energy.”

  We ate in silence while I turned everything over in my head. The police undoubtedly suspected Duncan, and part of me was inclined to suspect him, as well. Not that I thought he was lying, though he hadn’t been entirely truthful about Olivia either, and if he had been under the influence of MagX, he might not even remember what he had done. Then again, another girl was missing, and if the two cases were linked, Duncan probably didn’t have anything to do with it. Unless I was reading him all wrong and he wasn’t as innocent as he seemed. A thought occurred to me and I put my fork down.

  “Dunc,” I said, meeting his gaze. “Do you know if Liv is a Magical?”

  He played with the leftovers of his food. “Nah, she’s just an illegal immigrant,” he said.

  I decided to drop it. For now. But I was going to get to the bottom of this, no matter what. If the other missing girl, Corinne, really was a Magical, then I had to find out why she had disappeared and who might have taken her. For all I knew, it could be the same man that had attacked me outside the restaurant yesterday. Now, that was an unsettling thought. Also, if the shadow had made that man disappear, it wouldn’t make it any easier to find the missing girl. Or girls.

  I returned to my room after helping Charlie with the dishes. I opened my laptop and sat down on my bed. Where to start, though? I searched for MagX, and millions of results popped up. It was mostly articles about the revelation of Magicals in the world, people who had died from an overdose, as well as a bunch of medical sites listing the pros and cons of magical blood. It was definitely the old needle in a haystack, only this haystack was enormous.

  There was a knock on my door, and Charlie peeked inside. “May I come in?”

  I nodded, closing my laptop, and Charlie came to sit next to me.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Nothing.”

  Charlie lowered her glasses to the tip of her nose and tittered. “The truth shall set you free, Morgan.”

  I gave a short laugh. “All right. If you must know, I’m trying to figure out anything I can about the missing girls and the connection to MagX.”

  Charlie wiggled herself close to the wall, plopping one of my pillows behind her back.

  “Right. Count me in.”

  “Really?”

  “I know I said I wasn’t interested, but this has got out of hand. I didn’t understand the severity before but I’m beginning to. Also, I could have easily been one of those girls. I don’t believe Duncan for a second when he says Liv–slash–Ilyana wasn’t a user. There is definitely a link here.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief and opened my laptop again.

  “Thank you. I don’t know where to start searching, though. There’s too much to sift through, and nothing directly related to the White Willow disappearances. Doesn’t seem to have reached the press yet.”

&n
bsp; “Oh, it will. But girls go missing all the time. Once they confirm a link to MagX, however, you can bet your cute arse that this will reach the headlines.”

  The feeling of dread settled in my stomach. She was right, of course. Disappearing Magicals was a common thing now, and the politicians were busier arguing than actually doing anything about it. The press almost seemed to have lost interest, but two girls from the same university would surely get the journalists’ attention. Not to mention Mum’s. She would find out about the disappearances at some point, and that would be it for my short-lived London adventure. Unless the culprit was caught first.

  “Any ideas?” I said.

  “A few.” Charlie gestured at my laptop and I handed it to her. “Right, we’ll need to dig deep. First, though, any idea what an Elementalist is?”

  “It’s a Mag with the ability to control an element, I think. I never met one. Not a real one at least, though I’ve seen an Elemental power in use.”

  The memory of the earth moving below my feet, and Susan’s body in the rubble afterwards, resurfaced. I forced it to the back of my mind in fear I would start sobbing if I thought about it for too long. “Not that I’ve met a lot of Magicals as far as I know, and Mum always said she thought most of the Elementalists stayed behind in Avalon, so I’m guessing it’s quite rare on Earth.”

  “Wait. What? Avalon? You mean THE Avalon? As in Arthur and the sword in the fudging stone Avalon?”

  “Well, yes, in a manner of speaking. Although that sword was never in Avalon, I think—you mean Excalibur, right? Anyway, there’s more to the legend than what you find in human stories, but yes, Avalon is very real. Or was. It’s sort of—lost,” I said regretfully.

  Charlie bounced to her knees, almost sending my laptop flying to the floor. She grabbed it before it went off the edge of my bed, but her eyes were fixed on me.

  “So wait, Miss Morgan.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Anything else you’d like to share? Your name cannot be a coincidence, then, right?”

  Charlie had turned into a five-year-old in a candy store, but it felt good not to hide who I was. I had to give her something, and for the first time in my life, I could talk about my heritage with someone other than Mum and Dad.